Monthly Archive for November, 2008

Vegan Day Sixteen

Breakfast: wheat pancakes and OJ

Lunch: Taco Bell (bean burrito minus the cheese and add rice, and a mexican pizza with no cheese and meat)

Dinner: Veggie burger and potato pancakes

Snack: two Trader Joe’s peppermint Oreos

Challenges today: none especially

Today I felt: energized. I have half of my living room wallpaper border torn down…got it all done in a short amount of time. Looking forward to working on the rest in the next few days. Gotta get the living room (and hopefully kitchen) painted before Christmas…along with the shopping, ordering Christmas cards, planning Nora’s birthday party. You know…make plans to do major home painting weeks before major holiday craziness…that’s how I do things.

Vegan Day Fifteen

Breakfast: granola with almond milk and OJ

Lunch: veggie rice and 1/2 PB and cream cheese tortilla

Dinner: Veggies and rice (at Samurai Steakhouse for my brother’s birthday), and a vegetable spring roll

Snack: One more piece of that delicious chocolate cake from Kyle’s birthday

Challenges today: none specificially to speak of

Today I felt: excited to see the first big snow! I know it’s not vegan related (and it didn’t even stick to the ground), but I feel like a little kid when I see those big wet flakes flying all around. It looked like a snow globe!

Chocolate Cake? Vegan? Yes We Can!

I am about to bestow upon you the most delicious, fantastic, holy-shit-are-you-kidding-me-this-is-vegan?!?! cake recipe in the world. Yeah. It’s that awesome. So awesome, in fact, that the carnivores liked it too. So awesome, in fact, that they liked it better than Betty Crocker cake. If the only thing you do this week is make this cake then your life will be complete. I’m totally not shitting you.

The End All And Be All Of Chocolate Cake Recipes

3 Cups Flour

2 Cups Sugar

6 Tablespoons Cocoa

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Salt

3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil

2 Tablespoons Vinegar

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

2 Cups Cold Water

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth. (I used my KitchenAid mixer.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes: 2 layers or one 13×9. Frost when cool. I did a 13×9 and it took longer than 30 minutes…I’d say it was closer to 45. I just kept checking it every five minutes or so until it was done.

The frosting I made was mint buttercream because it was my brother’s birthday cake and he loves himself some mint. I used 2/3 cup shortening, some (probably about 2 cups…maybe a little less) powdered sugar, a small amount (likely 1/4 cup or so) almond milk, and about a tablespoon (maybe more) of peppermint extract. The measurements are estimated because I kinda just eyeballed it until it was frosting consistency.

This cake recipe is the only cake recipe you ever need. Vegan or not. You seriously need to try it.

Vegan Day Fourteen

Breakfast: Maple Pecan Granola, almond milk, and a glass of OJ

Lunch: banana, veggie burger from Wendy’s (everything they put on a burger…minus the burger), and fries

Dinner: Rigatoni with pasta sauce, garlic bread, and asparagus

Snack: Vegan cake and ice cream for my brother’s birthday

Challenges today: water. water. water.

Today I felt: really good. Generic, I know. But really, I just feel a ton better than I did pre-vegan. I didn’t get lunch until 2PM and while I was hungry I wasn’t like get sick starving. It seems that the granola cereal is very filling…and believe it or not Nora likes it better than Cheerios.

Vegan Day Thirteen

Breakfast: Maple pecan granola with almond milk and a glass of OJ

Lunch: Veggie stir fry with jelly toast and WATER!

Dinner: Asparagus and pea risotto

Snacks: some vegan chocolate chip cookies, a handful of tortilla chips, and a baby sized dark chocolate bar

Challenges today: avoiding the delicious looking cheese and cream cheese dip at the Tupperware bingo event we went to tonight

Today I felt: great once again! Not sleepy at all! Feeling awesome and full of energy these days is a nice change.

Vegan Day Twelve

Breakfast: Pecan Granola cereal with almond milk

Lunch: Banana, apple, cashews

Dinner: Veggie Burgers, peas, and sweet potatoes with cranberries

Snacks: Two Trader Joe’s peppermint Oreos

Challenges today: drinking more soda than water…again

Today I: was very happy to discover that I like the taste of the almond milk. I’m not a soy milk drinker so I’ve been avoiding cereal…although I’ve used the soy milk in pancakes and didn’t mind it. The almond milk is sweet. I can now enjoy cereal again! As for drinking it with a few cookies…not sure on that one yet…I have yet to try it ’straight up’.

Vegan Day Eleven

Breakfast: Wheat pancakes with real maple syrup and some juice.

Lunch: A banana, an apple, and some cashews.

Dinner: A veggie burger, potato pancakes, and lima beans.

Snacks: Those delicious peppermint cookies from Trader Joe’s.

Challenges today: none to speak of (but it is only 6:30PM…I guess there’s still time…)

Today I felt: energized despite the fact that the dog was up at 5:45 this morning (and of course I had to get her since the huz *ahem* didn’t manage to hear her…if you believe that one). I wasn’t sleepy or run down feeling at all.